How conservatives took over hearings on Newsom’s redistricting- CalMatters

By Alexei Koseff, CalMatters

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For some of the Republican voters who oppose the partisan redistricting plan moving swiftly through the California Capitol this week, it felt like a divine appointment.

They arrived in Sacramento on Tuesday — thousands of them, by the busload, from Visalia and Riverside and beyond — for an entirely different mission. Pastor Jack Hibbs, the extremely online leader of the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch, had called his followers to the Capitol to rally against a bill that would expand who can serve as a child’s caregiver when their parents are detained by immigration authorities.

It just so happened, however, that the Legislature also scheduled two hearings that morning to advance Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial proposal asking voters to set aside the state’s independent redistricting commission and approve new congressional lines more favorable to Democrats. And as word spread among the flock, dozens of them crowded the halls outside the committee rooms, frustrated and weary conservatives lining up for their precious seconds to publicly denounce another indignity thrust upon them by California’s liberal leaders.

“They’ve been getting away with things for too long,” said Judy Escobedo, a 64-year-old retired teacher from Visalia, as she exited the Assembly hearing where she told legislators that their “childish” effort to override the redistricting commission made her want to move back to Texas. “We voted for that because we want to choose our politicians. We don’t want our politicians to choose their voters.”

Testifying against the redistricting plan was “topping on the cake” for Escobedo, who came for the Hibbs rally with her sisters. “Somebody has to do something,” she said, “and I figured it should be me.”

Despite heated opposition and even legal threats from California Republicans, who could lose more than half their remaining seats in Congress, the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature is poised to approve the plan by the end of this week. Newsom would then call a special election for Nov. 4, when voters would have the final say on the new map. 

A handful of supporters, most of them affiliated with organized labor, showed up at the hearings to speak in favor of what they argue is a necessary step to prevent President Donald Trump from rigging the outcome of the 2026 midterms. Trump is pressuring Republican-led states across the country to undertake an unusual mid-decade redistricting to shore up the narrow GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“We are in a moment where we have to respond to an existential threat,” state Sen. Sabrina Certantes, a Riverside Democrat, said during the Senate hearing. “Do you expect Californians to unilaterally disarm ourselves when the Trump Republicans are wielding their control of state governments like weapons against democracy?”

But they were far outnumbered by the serendipitous throng of opponents, many of whom walked right off their chartered buses and into the line for public testimony.

Republicans feel ‘unrepresented’

Some were resigned that they would not halt what has appeared to be an increasing inevitability in recent weeks. Newsom has rallied public support through appearances with Democratic legislators who fled Texas to block a similar gerrymandering effort there.

“I’m not changing these people’s minds,” said David Bolog, a 55-year-old maintenance worker with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Since the coronavirus pandemic, he has been traveling to the Capitol weekly as a “citizen lobbyist” for right-leaning groups like Moms For Liberty.

“We already feel very unrepresented,” Bolog said. He was among a sparse crowd outside the Senate hearing earlier in the morning. “Even though you know it’s not going to stop it, you still have to say no.”

Behind him, Maria Carrillo entertained her children, ages 7 and 5. They left Riverside at 1 a.m. to make the drive to Sacramento for the Hibbs rally. Carrillo, a 36-year-old homeschool teacher, planned to turn their visit to the Capitol into a field trip for her children as well.

Like many Californians, Carrillo, who wore a shirt calling to keep men out of girls’ sports, said she had become politically active during the pandemic fights over shutdowns and mandatory vaccines. She wanted Democratic leaders to hear from some of the millions of Trump voters, like her, who supported the president’s agenda and would be disenfranchised by the new congressional lines.

“What I hope is they do listen to the real people who live in these communities and are affected by these policies,” she said.

Rep. Kevin Kiley voters show up

A contingent from the El Dorado County GOP huddled in a corner, monitoring the hearing but hesitant to testify against a plan they felt certain would be ramrodded through.

“We all know this is a farce anyway,” said Todd White of El Dorado Hills, the club’s chair.

“A redistricting war doesn’t benefit anybody,” said Doug Williams of South Lake Tahoe, the club’s vice chair. He said California was chasing Texas “”to the bottom of the barrel.”

The Democrats’ map moves El Dorado County from a sprawling rural district along the eastern border of California — represented by Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Rocklin Republican — to a new seat that stretches out from the more liberal Sacramento suburbs. Williams feared that the issues facing his mountainous community, such as wildfire preparedness and the declining availability of home insurance, would be overlooked. 

“This is only designed to benefit one person and that’s Gavin Newsom,” White said, alluding to expectations that Newsom will soon launch a campaign for president. White complained that the governor was using taxpayer money to run a special election and “he’s made it all about himself.”

“Why isn’t he doing his job?” club treasurer Heather Masten said. After some deliberation, she stepped into the hearing to deliver a brief comment in opposition.

Then the group wandered over to the Assembly hearing to do it all over again.

“We’ll be here all day,” White said, “just getting oppressed by the majority party.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.